The Good-Morrow

John  Donne
Born     22 January 1572[1]
London, England
Died     31 March 1631 (aged 59)[2]
London, England
Occupation      Poet, priest, lawyer
Nationality        English
Alma mater      Hart Hall, Oxford
University of Cambridge
Genre  Satire, love poetry, elegy, sermons
Subject            Love, sexuality, religion, death

Literary movement      Metaphysical poetry

"The Good-Morrow" is a poem by John Donne, published in his 1633

What Are The Literary Devices in The Good-Morrow?

Alliteration

When two or more words in close proximity begin with the same consonant:

were we not weaned...

snorted we in the Seven Sleepers'...

Which watch not...

Assonance

When two or more words in a line have the same vowel sounds:

sucked on country...

Seven Sleepers' den...

all love of other...

tine in mine...

true plain hearts do...

Caesura

A pause in a line caused by punctuation, where the reader has to pause. There are several in this poem, typified in line 14, where there are two:

Let us possess one world, each hath one, and is one.

What Is The Metre (Meter in American English) of The Good-Morrow?

There are five regular beats and ten syllables in each line except for the last line of each stanza which has twelve, so count as hexameters.

There are 13 lines of pure iambic pentameter ( 1,6, 8-13, 16,17,19,20) with a regular daDUM daDUM beat.

 

I won / der, by / my troth, / what thou / and I
Did, till / we loved? / Were we / not weaned / till then?
But sucked / on count / ry pleas / ures, chil / dishly?
Or snor / ted we / in the Sev / en Sleep / ers’ den?
’Twas so; / but this, / all pleas / ures fanc / ies be.
If ev / er an / y beau / ty I / did see,
Which I / desired, / and got, / ’twas but / a dream / of thee.

And now / good-mor / row to / our wa / king souls,
Which watch / not one / anoth / er out / of fear;
For love, / all love / of oth / er sights / controls,
And makes / one lit / tle room / an eve / rywhere.
Let sea- / discove / rers to / new worlds / have gone,
Let maps / to oth / ers, worlds / on worlds / have shown,
Let us / possess / one world, / each hath / one, and / is one.

My face / in thine / eye, thine / in mine / appears,
And true / plain hearts / do in / the fa / ces rest;
Where can / we find / two bet / ter hem / ispheres,
Without /sharpnorth, / without / declin / ing west?
Whatev / er dies, / was not / mixed e / qually;
If our / two loves / be one, / or, thou / and I
Love so / alike, / that none / do slack / en, none / can die.

This is a poem written by John Donne.

It is a love poem.

 The poem is important for first-year honors students in English Department.

The poem was written when John Donne was a a student in "Lincoln's Inn" school.

Its published in 1633.(two years later of his death)

Lines21

Stanza:3(7 lines per stanza)

The Good-Morrow is a three-stanza poem,

each stanza has 7 lines (heptet).

The rhyme scheme is unusual :

 ababccc 

 The first four lines of each stanza working together in alternate

The poem is considered as the first poem of Donne.

The poem took from "Songs and Sonnets" book of Donne.

This poem is also considered as the first poem of "Songs and sonnets "

Theme: Sensual love to spiritual love

\

The title means good morning (Good-Morrow) is archaic, an old fashioned way of greeting someone.

The Good-Morrow

I wonder, by my troth, what thou and I
Did, till we loved? Were we not weaned till then?
But sucked on country pleasures, childishly?
Or snorted we in the Seven Sleepers’ den?
’Twas so; but this, all pleasures fancies be.
If ever any beauty I did see,
Which I desired, and got, ’twas but a dream of thee.

And now good-morrow to our waking souls,
Which watch not one another out of fear;
For love, all love of other sights controls,
And makes one little room an everywhere.
Let sea-discoverers to new worlds have gone,
Let maps to other, worlds on worlds have shown,
Let us possess one world, each hath one, and is one.

My face in thine eye, thine in mine appears,
And true plain hearts do in the faces rest;
Where can we find two better hemispheres,
Without sharp north, without declining west?
Whatever dies, was not mixed equally;
If our two loves be one, or, thou and I
Love so alike, that none do slacken, none can die.

Stanza 1

Knowing that the title means good morning (Good-Morrow is archaic, an old fashioned way of greeting someone. Donne liked to join some of his words with a hyphen) the reader has a clue that the scene is set early in the day.

The the first line takes the reader into the mind of the first-person speaker, who is either asking himself or his lover a puzzling question. Note the language, it's 17th century English, so thou means you and by my troth means in all honesty or truth.

The first-line runs on into the second (enjambment) and the caesurae (pauses caused by punctuation) ensure that the reader cannot go too quickly through these words. This is a carefully phrased question.

And that small phrase Did, till we loved? is important because it gives sense to the previous line and sets the poem off proper. Just what kind of existence did the pair have before they became lovers before they fell in love?

It's a question many lovers have asked because when two become firmly entrenched in love it's as if the time previous to their meeting holds no value. They never lived, they didn't do anything meaningful.

Were we not weaned till then? To be weaned is to be influenced from an early age; to be a baby or an infant gradually given adult food whilst coming off a diet of mother's milk. The speaker is implying that they were infants before they loved it.

The third line reinforces this sense of childish existence the two had to go through. The country pleasures are either crude sensualities or immature sexual pleasures, mere surface experiences.

Or they lived life asleep as it were. The allusion is to the Seven Sleepers, Christian youths who fled from the Roman emperor Decius (249-251) and were sealed in a cave. They slept for nearly two hundred years so the story goes, waking up in a world where Christianity had taken hold.

So the implication is that these two lived as if asleep until they fell in love and woke up - their love became a kind of new religion for them.

These four lines, with alternate rhymes, form a quatrain. The end three lines consolidate meaning, have the same end rhymes and have that final hexameter, a long line.

Twas so; ...the speaker confirms that, yes, before they were lovers any pleasures were not real; it was as if they were infants asleep, not really awake but merely dreaming.

And Donne being Donne he goes on to say that his desires were fulfilled - he got what he wanted out of beauty - but even that wasn't real, it was only a dream.

Stanza 2

Having concluded in the first stanza that the lovers weren't really alive, or hadn't done anything, until they fell in love and became aware, the speaker wishes both of them a good morning as they wake.

There is no fear in their relationship; they are totally devoted, 100% in love, which is the be-all and end all. They see the world through their love, through love.

And makes one little room an everywhere....the room the lovers are in is small, a microcosm, yet because their love is universal, it goes everywhere their love goes, and is whole, a macrocosm.

This the line reflects the Renaissance idea that an individual held within them the universe.

 The last three lines of this stanza are related to the exploration of new worlds. Donne's use of metaphor is cutting edge for his time - explorers were discovering new terrestrial worlds using the latest maps, and astronomers were beginning to seriously chart the stars.

The known world was expanding rapidly. Donne connects this fact with the world the lovers have created.

Let us possess one world (in some versions this is our world)...the speaker affirms that they have their individual worlds but their love world they possess, they totally own a whole new world which they are free to explore.

Stanza 3

In the third stanza the speaker initially gets close up and personal.

Donne's fascination with reflections and imagery comes to the fore. As the lovers gaze into each other's eyes they see each other reflected. Evidence of more bonding, of two becoming one.

The lovers are true and plain - they don't have to pretend or show off or be fancy - in front of one another.

The speaker reverts to questioning again, as in the first stanza, and asks Where can we find two better hemispheres (semi-circles) ...which could be their eyes and faces.

Without sharp North....the cold north, relating to a cold relationship

without declining West...the sun sets in the west, end of the day, end of a relationship.

So the speaker in these four lines reinforces the idea that the lovers are a single entity; their relationship isn't cold or about to end, it is warm and rising.

Whatever dies was not mixed equally....In the medical theory of the time death was thought to be the result of imbalances in the body's elements.

If our two loves...the speaker suggests that their two loves are not at all imbalanced, their loves are so alike that they can never die.

This is an idealistic end to the poem but Donne's original take on what love is remains with us today in popular musical lyrics for example.

Stanza 1

Knowing that the title means good morning (Good-Morrow is archaic, an old fashioned way of greeting someone. Donne liked to join some of his words with a hyphen) the reader has a clue that the scene is set early in the day.

The first-line takes the reader into the mind of the first-person speaker, who is either asking himself or his lover a puzzling question. Note the language, it's 17th century English, so thou means you and by my troth means in all honesty or truth.

The first line runs on into the second (enjambment) and the caesurae (pauses caused by punctuation) ensure that the reader cannot go too quickly through these words. This is a carefully phrased question.

And that small phrase Did, till we loved? is important because it gives sense to the previous line and sets the poem off proper. Just what kind of existence did the pair have before they became lovers before they fell in love?

It's a question many lovers have asked because when two become firmly entrenched in love it's as if the time previous to their meeting holds no value. They never lived, they didn't do anything meaningful.

Were we not weaned till then? To be weaned is to be influenced from an early age; to be a baby or an infant gradually given adult food whilst coming off a diet of mother's milk. The speaker is implying that they were infants before they loved it.

 the third line reinforces this sense of childish existence the two had to go through. The country pleasures are either crude sensualities or immature sexual pleasures, mere surface experiences.

Or they lived life asleep as it were. The allusion is to the Seven Sleepers, Christian youths who fled from the Roman emperor Decius (249-251) and were sealed in a cave. They slept for nearly two hundred years so the story goes, waking up in a world where Christianity had taken hold.

So the implication is that these two lived as if asleep until they fell in love and woke up - their love became a kind of new religion for them.

These four lines, with alternate rhymes, form a quatrain. The end three lines consolidate meaning, have the same end rhymes and have that final hexameter, a long line.

Twas so; ...the speaker confirms that, yes, before they were lovers any pleasures were not real; it was as if they were infants asleep, not really awake but merely dreaming.

And Donne being Donne he goes on to say that his desires were fulfilled - he got what he wanted out of beauty - but even that wasn't real, it was only a dream.